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m. 16 Feb 1677
Facts and Events
The first record we have of Robert Price, is when he appears in Northampton, Massachusetts in a list of soldiers under command of Capt. William Turner, 7 April 1676[1]. Robert's birth had to be sometime around 1658 or before. As a soldier in 1676, assuming he was at least 18, that would make his birth to be before 1658 and based on Sara Webb's birth of 1651, he was probably older. The name of Robert Price of Northampton appears again in a list of soldiers in the Falls fight under Capt William Turner, 19 May 1676[1][5]. This list of soldiers who were in the Falls fight was approved by a committee of the General Court, 23 June 1736 and such list was used to grant to the soldiers and their descendants shares of land near Deerfield[1][2]. In this land township list was Samuel Price of Glastonbury, son of Robert Price[2]. Robert Price married 16 Feb 1677 at Northampton, Sarah Webb Field, widow of Zechariah Field and daughter of John and Ann Bassett Webb. Sarah Webb was born ca 1651, married 17 Dec 1668, Zachariah field born ca 1645, son of Zachariah and Mary Field. Zachariah and Sarah Field removed from Northampton to Deerfield in 1672 and there Zachariah died in 1674[1]p44. Sarah presented an inventory of his estate, 29 Sept 1674. After the decease of her husband, Sarah and her sons returned to her family at Northampton or to seek refuge from impending Indian hostilities. At Northampton, Sarah married her second husband, Robert Price, 16 Feb 1677[3][2]. Robert Price took the oath of allegiance in the township of Northampton, 8 Feb 1678[2]. Zach Field and Robert Price and family had probably removed some 16 miles farther north to Deerfield by 1686/7 when his name appears on a list of those who owned land at Deerfield[1] p208. On 20 Apr Robert Price received a woodlot in Deerfield[2]. In the deep snow of winter (described as at least 3 feet) before dawn on 29 Feb 1704 a war party of some 300 French and Indians attacked the Deerfield settlement[1][2]. Of the town's 291 inhabitants, 49 were killed and 111 were taken captive[1] p308-9. Of the Price family, Robert had probably been called away to guard the threatened town of Northampton (Robert Price is not on these lists)[2]. Sarah and her children, Samuel (age 18), and Elizabeth Stevens (age 20), were taken captive. Elizabeth's husband, Andrew Stevens, was killed. Another daughter, Mary, wife of Samuel Smead suffocated with her two children and Samuel's mother in the cellar of their burning house. Samuel Smead survived and was also probably at Northampton. One of Sarah Price's sons by her first marriage, John Field, and their family were also living in Deerfield. His wife, Mary (age 28), and her children, Mary (age 6), and John (age 3), were captured and another daughter, 10 month old Sarah was killed[1] p308. A complete list of the captives of Deerfield and their fate can be accessed here: Deerfield Captives and Their Fate Sarah Price was about 53 years old when captured[1] p308. What circumstances caused her death a short distance from the fort can only be speculation. Perhaps her captors felt a woman of her age would serve no useful purpose and would be unlikely to endure the forced march to Canada of some 300 miles in deep winter snows[2]. The majority of the 111 captives were children who the Jesuit priests in Canada hoped to convert to Catholicism. Many of the captives were ransomed after a year and some several years later, returned to New England. 28 never returned, but became citizens of New France (Canada) or as young children were raised by Indians and continued the Indian mode of life[1][2]. Elizabeth Price Stevens married a Frenchman (Fourneau) and became a citizen. Of little Mary Field, every effort was made to secure her release, but her Indian captors would not relinquish her. Her mother, Mary Field and her son, John Field, were ransomed and returned the next year[2]. Of Samuel Price, little is known of his captivity. If he was first an Indian captive, he was released to the French who baptised him as Louis before 1710 when he witnessed a marriage[2]. That year too, he became a French citizen of New France. In 1711 he was godfather to his niece, Marguerite Fourneau[2]. Samuel was an apprenticed shoemake, probably working with his brother-in-law, Jean Fourneau. What circumstance prompted Samuel's departure from Canada or when he left, will probably never be known[2]. He left behind in Canada his sister, Elizabeth, who died in November of 1714, after the birth of her 7th chiild. Samuel most likely traveled back to Deerfield where his father is believed to have still been living. What prompted Samuel's journey to Glastonbury,Connecticut to marry there on 7 April 1714, Dorothy Fox, is unknown. On 25 April 1708, Robert Price was amoung 3 persons voted to repair his commonfence in the town of Deerfield. The last record of Robert Price in Deerfield is a deed in which is listed: "Robert Price of Deerfield, for 6 pounds, 5 shilling, seven pence, from Henry Dwight of Hatfield, houselot in Deerfield, a place called "Wappin" containing five acres more or less, dated 15 Feb 1715/16. Additional information on the Deerfield Massacre may be found here at
References
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